It’s time to break up the Rasmus Andersson, Kevin Bahl pairing

As the numbers show, the duo struggled in a big way last season. They were below water in terms of xGF% and better than just seven eligible pairings across the league who spent at least 700 minutes together. In fact, the duo was on the ice for the most xGA in the entire NHL at right around 50.

Their xGA numbers look a tad better when you consider just how many minutes they spent together, but regardless, their per-60 expected goals against still ranked 22nd out of 28 pairings. No matter how you look at it, they were dreadful together and constantly allowed dangerous chances.

In fact, when you start taking a trip through the previous decade in the NHL, the pairing is among the worst minute-munching pairings of the last 10 years. Across the last 10 seasons, just eight pairings with at least 1000 minutes together have put up a worse xGA/60 than Bahl and Andersson’s 2024–25 total of 2.63. For context, 88 pairings in that time span have played 1000 minutes together in a season. Bahl, Andersson rank 80th out of the 88 pairings.

When we look at shot attempts, it doesn’t get much better. Again, we need to keep in mind that they played the third most minutes together of any pairing in the league, but no pairing allowed more shots against than Bahl and Andersson. When we look at their per 60 results, they don’t rank much better at the 24th-worst rate.

2025–26 hasn’t been much better

Despite how much the duo struggled last year, they have once again been stapled to each other to start the 2025–26 season. Just like last season, they’ve once again struggled in a huge way. Here’s how their numbers stack up among the 28 pairings that have spent at least 30 minutes together this season.

It’s only been three games, but once again, the Bahl-Andersson pairing has been getting shelled this season. Their numbers are right on par, if not worse than last year’s, showing no signs of improvement. There comes a time when trying the same thing over and over again with the same poor results makes no sense. I think we’re starting to reach that territory with this duo.

Time to try something else

For a team that is carrying eight defencemen on its current roster, they have plenty of pieces to shake up its pairings and try something new. Given we have yet to see any long-term success from this duo, it’s time to move on and try something else. Clearly, the pairing doesn’t work together and they’re hurting this team’s chances of winning.